Celler Frisach

Catalonia
Spain
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Celler Frisach

Catalonia
Spain
Spain
PRODUCER
Francesc and Joan Ferré
ESTABLISHED
2009
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
REGION
Catalonia
Spain
CITY / VILLAGE
CLIMATE
Mediterranean
ELEVATION
SIZE
20 hectares

About

Celler Frisach is Francesc and Joan Ferré, who make energetic natural wines in the Terra Alta appellation of Catalonia. The surname Frisach belongs to their great-grandfather; the name Ca’ Frisach still marks the family home on the main street of their village, Corbera d’Ebre. For over two centuries, the Ferré family has farmed grapes in this area, but it was only in 2009 after Francesc returned from oenology school that the brothers decided to produce their own wines and stop selling their fruit—a change that takes gumption here, given how rare independent family wineries are in Terra Alta, let alone in their proud-but-petite hometown.

Francesc is one of the young stars in the thriving natural wine scene in this part of the world; you’ll see his wines on many lists in Barcelona and in well-regarded restaurants throughout Catalonia. He has a technician’s mind and is something of a perfectionist—but Joan teases that Francesc is as much astrólogo as oenologist. The desire for excellence doesn’t keep the domaine from experimenting, though; each year sees wines made with less and less intervention, lighter extraction, less power—into a more refined and transparent style. Joan and Francesc are also genuine farmers, occasionally up to their knees in mud, always in the vineyards actually doing the work. Today, the fruit of their organically-farmed 20 hectares is rendered into joyful, expressive wines, with many cuvées achieving better clarity each vintage.

The varieties that Joan and Francesc work with Terra Alta are as follows: the queen of the area, Vernatxa (Grenache Blanc), as well as native varieties Vernatxa Gris (the highly rare Grenache Gris), Vernatxa Fina (Grenache Noir), Carinyena, and the idiosyncratic Garnatxa Peluda and Morenillo. Given this Mediterranean paradise, with Terra Alta’s special, oceanic panal soils in the old river delta of the Ebro, it seems self-evident that special wines should be possible here. But we’re also lucky to have the Ferré brothers’ work: the Spanish Civil War ripped through their family land not two generations before. Franco’s push into this Catalan borderland scarred Terra Alta, and Corbera d’Ebre in particular, in some of the last battles of the nationalist march on Barcelona. In many ways, the wines of Celler Frisach are a testimony: to roots, to courage, to young descendants taking stock of losses in the past and giving their home a hopeful new expression.

Products

L'Abrunet Blanc Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / White
VARIETAL
Grenache Blanc
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified organic. The entry-level white wine at Frisach—abrunet means ‘swallow,’ the birds that grace the landscape; it represents youth and freshness for the domaine. Young-vines Vernatxa (20 year-old parcels), on iron-rich, calcareous clay at 390m above sea level. They do two passes through the vineyard for this wine, an earlier one to maintain freshness, and a later one for phenolic ripeness. Pressed and given around 12 hours’ skin contact before spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel. Aged 3.5 months on the fine lees in stainless steel. Bottled with no additions; zero SO2.

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L'Abrunet Negre Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Grenache, Carignan
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified organic. The entry-level red wine at Frisach—abrunet means ‘swallow,’ the birds that grace the landscape; it represents youth and freshness for the domaine. 60% Garnatxa, 40% Carinyena, coming from two different parcels: a 26 year-old Garnatxa vineyard, 425 msl, on top of a windy ridge; soils are petrified sand dunes (panal) and iron-rich calcareous clay. The other vineyard is 31 year-old Carinyena, 330 msl, on rocky calcareous clay. The different microclimates ripen Garnatxa and Carinyena together so they can be co-fermented in underground cement vats, called trulls, which Francesc’s grandparents built. Must is retrieved bucket by bucket, pressed and transferred to the next vat, where it ages on the fine lees 5 months. Bottled with no additions; zero SO2.

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L'Abrunet Rosat Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / Rosé
VARIETAL
Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. 50% Garnatxa Gris, 30% Garnatxa Blanca, 20% Garnatxa Negra. Planted on calcareous clay at 400 meters above sea level. All the grapes for their rosat comes from a single vineyard and are harvested together at the same time. Picked, destemmed/crushed and macerated together for 24 hours before then being pressed off. Only the free run juice is used for the rosat. Native yeast fermentation in stainless steel. Bottled with no additions including sulfur.

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Garnatxa Blanca La Foradada Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / White
VARIETAL
Grenache Blanc
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. Drawn from a special thirty year-old single vineyard of bush-trained Vernatxa; soils are iron-rich, highly calcareous clay, planted at an elevation of 290m. The wine is destemmed, skin-fermented for two weeks, fermented and aged for at least nine to twelve months in neutral barriques. Unfined, unfiltered, no SO2 added. ‘La Foradada’ means ‘the Forgotten One’—the wine is an homage to Francesc and Joan’s grand- and great-grandfathers, who lived and worked and did viticulture in this village; this is the type of white wine that Francesc imagines was likely made off Vernatxa in that era. It's an elegant version of maceration and indeed doesn’t look ‘orange’ at all, but rather carries the lovely herbal and mineral notes, as well as texture, for which this grape variety is rightly celebrated.

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Sang de Corb Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Grenache, Grenache Peluda, Carignan
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified organic. 40% Vernatxa Fina (red), 20% Vernatxa Peluda, 20% Carinyena. ‘The blood of the crow:’ a tribute to the family and town’s ancestors who shed blood in the vineyards of Corbera d’Ebre, during clashes with Franco’s troops marching on Barcelona. These varieties are co-planted in a special one-hectare vineyard planted in 1945, the ‘Dellà del Riu;’ the vines are surrounded by apple, almond, and olive trees. The grapes are co-fermented, to continue the reference to this historical style of planting grapes and making wine. Aged one year in 300L barrels, minimal SO2 at bottling. Francesc considers this red the closest to their home region’s history.

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Vernatxa Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / White
VARIETAL
Grenache Blanc
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified organic. 30 year-old vines of Vernatxa, the most important white variety in the appellation of Terra Alta. This is the wine from Frisach that strikes the most like Chablis: textured, very sandy and saline, with a good outline of brisk acidity keeping it tense; it’s absolutely ageworthy. Soils are all petrified sand dunes (panal) at 400 msl; these are very windy sites. Skin-fermented for roughly three days to one week, though it does not read as a macerated wine at all, then aged six months in 500L oak barrels. No filtration, small amount of SO2 just before bottling.

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Vernatxa Gris Les Alifares Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / White
VARIETAL
Grenache Gris
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified organic. 100% Vernatxa Gris. 65 year-old bush-trained Vernatxa Gris, from a single vineyard called “Lo Mas del Surdo:” soils are fully panal, or petrified sand dunes, at 450 msl. The grapes are hand-harvested and placed whole-cluster into tank. They are then lightly foot-trod and left to ferment and age on skins for 30 days. The wine is racked off the skins/pomace, then aged on the lees for at least seven months. This wine is one of the more elegant, structured, vibrant orange wines we know, definitely ageworthy. Temp i pells – time and skins. No fining, filtration, or added SO2.

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Carinyena L'Anit Terra Alta

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Carignan
FARMING PRACTICE
Certified Organic
DETAILS

Certified organic. The newest and one of only two single-vineyard red wines in the Frisach lineup, 100% Carinyena from the oldest vineyard in the Ferré family holdings: a single parcel of 85+ year-old vines, bush-trained. The grapes re fermented whole-cluster and left on skins and stems for one month. Élevage is split between 225L old barrels and concrete tank. Unfined, unfiltered, zero added SO2. Francesc calls this “the Poulsard of Catalonia”—hazy, scrubby, with dried berry fruit, wine with an old soul and ethereal body. Only one or two barrels produced each year.

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